Red Wolves know cleanup essential
JONESBORO — Justice Hansen’s reply signified introspection.
When asked about Arkansas State University’s 48-21 season-opening walloping of Southeast Missouri State, the Red Wolves’ senior quarterback — who slung a school-record six touchdown passes, the most by a Sun Belt player since the 2011 season — revealed how Arkansas State thinks about Arkansas State one game into a season with lofty expectations.
“Sloppy,” Hansen quickly answered. “But at the same time, good.”
There was much good, but the sloppy stuck out like a sore thumb beyond the expected flaws in a season opener.
The good included seven total passing touchdowns (the other from backup quarterback Logan Bonner) to seven different receivers, which were the most in a single game in school history.
The Red Wolves’ 685 yards of offense were the third most in program history. Their 8.7 yards per play tied the seventh-highest
mark for the program, and the victory at Centennial Bank Stadium snapped a threegame losing streak in season openers.
The offense’s outburst was mostly sleek and sharp.
For the sloppy, Coach Blake Anderson defined the hiccups.
“All of that is kind of clouded by the fact that we had 12 penalties for 119 yards, and we turned the ball over a couple of times,” Anderson said. “We missed a couple of tackles that turned into explosive plays for them. Those are just things that when we play teams that are better equipped and match up with us better are going to be things that cause you to lose a game.
“It was an eye-opening experience.”
One of the offseason’s hottest topics was the Red Wolves’ emphasis on reducing penalties in 2018. In their first outing since allowing 60-plus yards via penalties in seven of 12 games in 2017, that fell flat.
ASU’s 12 penalties doubled Southeast Missouri State’s six. Eight of the 12 flags cost 10 yards or more, more often than not for holding.
A kick-catch interference penalty gave SEMO a free 15 yards. A targeting call that knocked sliding quarterback Daniel Santacaterina out of the game added 15 more yards. Another for roughing the passer and one more for unsportsmanlike conduct, both 15-yard fouls, kept the Red Wolves’ defense on the field.
Fourteen of SEMO’s 21 points were off of ASU’s 3 turnovers (2 interceptions, 1 fumble).
“They’re aware,” Anderson said. “They know that we’ve got work to do. We didn’t play well enough. Not that we didn’t celebrate, but it was a very low-key celebration. Our standards are higher than what we played tonight.”
Anderson said Arkansas State should have had more than seven passing touchdowns. With 39 pass attempts split between two quarterbacks, 28 were caught by 11 different receivers. Some were misfires. Others were drops, Anderson said, and should have been touchdowns.
“It’s heartbreaking, to be honest with you,” Anderson said. “We have spent just a tremendous amount of time talking about it and really holding them accountable and disciplining guys. You name it, we’ve done everything you can think of and they’ve responded really well.
“We’ve had few issues in practice. We’ve had very few issues on the field. Just tonight, when the environment is different and the electricity in the stadium is different, we had guys that just didn’t respond well and hurt our football team.”
Arkansas State will enter Bryant-Denny Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to meet the mistake-hunting Crimson Tide, a bunch fueled by baiting opponents into traps and swallowing them with speed, size and skill.
The issues the Red Wolves displayed Saturday are fixable. So much so, they’ve already been addressed, Anderson said.
But one mistake against No. 1 Alabama may prevent the Sun Belt’s preseason favorite from forcing the defending national champions to flinch.
Arkansas State has five days to clean things up.
“We addressed it already in the locker room,” Anderson said. “It was one of the first things we talked about. The body language and the way they responded what what I expected and I what I needed.”